Farming Industry in SoMd would BOOM once again!
- Thread starter Hank
- Start date
The State paid farmers to not grow it anymore.
Interesting. I thought perhaps the price fell.
PeoplesElbow
Well-Known Member
Didn't every farmer that took that buyout do it voluntarily?
Then the answer would be they choose not to.
LightRoasted
If I may ...
For your consideration ...
Remember when the lawyer here in Maryland that brought that case was paid/charged over a billion for trying and winning the case? And then had to go to court to get the money because everyone was stroking out at the amount? Then the courts said, yup, he is due it and it must be paid?
Remember when the lawyer here in Maryland that brought that case was paid/charged over a billion for trying and winning the case? And then had to go to court to get the money because everyone was stroking out at the amount? Then the courts said, yup, he is due it and it must be paid?
But why did they all suddenly decide to not grow it at basically the same time? Because the State paid them to.
PeoplesElbow
Well-Known Member
Still a choice, they took a one time payout instead.
NorthBeachPerso
Honorary SMIB
That would have been Peter Angelos.
I had heard some/most of the Amish didn't take it.
Not really a choice at all. The entire industry disappeared almost overnight, eliminating the farmer's ability to grade and sell their bacca crop locally. I remember 40 years ago, the long lines of trucks and horse-drawn wagons loaded high with pressed tobacco, waiting in line to get theirs in to the massive buy/auction barn in Hughesville.
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I pointed out a small field of tobacco the other day...first I'd seen in years. I wonder where they transport it to sell it...
When they held the auction for all the antique tractors etc on the Turner farm, there three or four huge tobacco barns in various condition from poor to literally falling down. They had them taped out of bounds. But I hadda take a look inside and there were stacks and stacks of thousands o tobacco sticks. They did remove the ancient tobacco presses and sold those....not sure what anyone wanted with them except they looked cool.
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Few of the Amish I deal with up towards Thompson's Corner/Mechanicsville grow it any more.
PeoplesElbow
Well-Known Member
I wonder how much of that is demographics, I don't know hardly anyone that smokes any more, 20 years ago I knew a bunch of smokers.
May have been a smart choice, other than growing some sort of boutique tobacco that is. I just learned that clove cigarettes are no longer legal to sell the other day. Those things were everywhere in the 90s.
The SOMD tobacco was still in high demand when the state stepped in with the buyouts. They made the buyout amounts juicy enough that the writing was on the wall for the farmers that relied heavily on tobacco income. I was amazed at how quickly the massive Hughesville tobacco auction barn operations shrank and then closed down.
Clove cigs are not legal any more? GTFO..that's nuts. LOL. I remember a couple "kids" that puffed on those way back in the day. Not something I cared for though.
My Bro-in-law recently retired from a tobacco processing company down in southern VA. Surprisingly, the Japanese invested in that industry and are actually expanding and upgrading some of the older plants that they acquired. Tobacco might be just about dead in MD but not in VA.
PeoplesElbow
Well-Known Member
Phillip Morris and Alitra split to keep the domestic and foreign sales separate about 20 years ago I'd say, the foreign one was the one that still had growth back then. I think tobacco(use) in the US is pretty much dying. PM did heavily invest in marijuana and ecigs.
I quit a 2+ pack a day habit in 2010. that was what did 'em in.
jrt_ms1995
Well-Known Member
I've seen much more being grown again here in N.C. in recent years than in the 20 years before. Still not as much as when I worked those fields, but a comeback nonetheless.
NorthBeachPerso
Honorary SMIB
That's where a lot of the remaining Maryland tobacco goes. It's been a few years since I talked to my tobacco farming buddy. What he told me was once the buyout happened and the auction houses closed that most of the remaining farmers grew it under contract and a bunch was slated for export. I don't know if that's still true.
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